


The Obvious is at Eye Level (but I Might Need a Step Stool)

by dr_awkward221



Series: when every 'no' turns into 'maybe' [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon Compliant, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Crack, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, background bokuaka - Freeform, he's really a mess i'm sorry hinata ahah, inunaki is a gremlin and i love him very much, mentions of the covid pandemic, outside pov sakuatsu, post timeskip general spoilers, rated T for Atsumu's potty mouth, reckless use of the portoguese language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28774221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dr_awkward221/pseuds/dr_awkward221
Summary: The saying goes: “you'll know it when you see it”, but what happens when you're so short things just fly over your head?or,Five times Hinata Shoyo sees Sakusa Kiyoomi and Miya Atsumu interact with each other without realizing he’s witnessing them falling in love, and one time it backfires on him.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: when every 'no' turns into 'maybe' [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988017
Comments: 36
Kudos: 467





	The Obvious is at Eye Level (but I Might Need a Step Stool)

**Author's Note:**

> PART 3 of my canon skats series! There are a couple of references to the other two fics but you can totally read this one on its own, it's nothing important. Also this is mainly kagehina ahah skats are just there... doing what they do. 
> 
> This whole fic owes its existence to a dream i once had where I was Hinata and was desperately looking for the bathroom in a gas station where the msby bus had stopped (not relevant but i had also hooked up with Inunaki in the past, good for dream Hinata/me). It was very random, but it got me thinking about all the things Hinata must see on a daily basis, everything his teammates do and say... and one thing led to another and here we are. 
> 
> I dedicate this to my friend Ori, who's been a wonderful presence in my life for the past few months and helped me loads with this fic and also came up with the title! Don't know what i would have done without you, seriously. Thank you 💕 
> 
> [Warning: mention of the pandemic towards the end of the +1. It's not serious and kind of played for laughs, if you want to skip it just stop at "until the end of the world." I wanted to include it somehow because damn, this story ends in 2020 and i really can't ignore history... but still, if you don't want to hear about it you can skip it. The tone still stays lighthearted like for the rest of the fic]

#  **1.**

Hinata is slightly starting to panic. This gas station that looks more like a mall where the MSBY bus stopped for the last quick break during their infinitely long journey from Osaka to Sendai is way too big. He thinks he might be lost. Yeah, scratch that, he’s definitely lost. Finding the bathroom shouldn’t take more than a minute under _any_ circumstances, and yet he’s been walking around for at least ten and still hasn’t seen a sign of it. 

“Bathroom, bathroom,” he starts to chant, in the hopes of making it manifest in front of him like a summoned demon, and only manages to manifest a couple of weird stares from people standing about in the aisles of this labyrinthic hell of a station. But it also manages to summon a clerk who maybe felt a little too sorry for him, seeing him struggle, and came to the rescue, pointing him in the right direction. 

When he sees the bright retro-illuminated sign that reads “Toilet” he feels like a boulder has been lifted from his shoulders. 

“Finally,” he whispers, and starts chanting again, this time a little more happily. “Bathroom, bathroom, I gotta p—” he freezes as soon as he opens the door. Standing there, in the middle of the small space, shoulders hunched and hands buried deep into his sweatshirt pockets, is Sakusa. 

“Hi, Omi-san,” Hinata greets, and flinches when Sakusa turns to look at him with a glare so deep and dark that it’s screaming murder. And this bathroom is so out of hand and hard to find, no one would hear him scream— 

“Hello,” Sakusa greets back, voice levelled and at odds with his distressed expression, even if he does look just a little more relaxed after having seen it was Hinata who entered and not some random stranger. 

“Are you okay?” Hinata asks, still from the door, at a safe distance.

Sakusa grunts quietly. “No.” He turns his glare to the stall’s door. “This place is disgusting.”

Hinata hums, observing the scene. The hands in the pockets. The closed door to the stall. He probably doesn’t have gloves. No, he has them for sure, in his bag that is on the bus. And doesn’t want to open the door with his sleeve because then his sleeve would be dirty. 

Probably. 

Hinata smiles. It’s the first away game with the Jackals for both of them, and he’s sure the nerves must be getting to Sakusa too. Maybe even more so, since Hinata is kind of going back home. 

He has a duty to help his fellow rookie teammate. 

He steps up, opens the door to the stall, and steps aside to let him get inside. 

“Go on,” he says when he sees he’s still not moving. “I’ll hold it closed for you. Don’t worry, you don’t have to touch it.”

“Huh,” Sakusa says, looking at him with a weird look on his face. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, but move it because I have to pee too.” 

“Right, sorry.”

And with that he goes in. Hinata waits with his back against the door, humming to himself while staring at the ceiling and trying not to think too much about his own bladder. He’s held the door closed for Natsu enough times to be an expert at the art, by now. He almost doesn’t hear the quiet “Hinata” coming from the other side of it, absorbed as he is in his humming, but he steps away. 

“I can open?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

So he does and barely waits for Sakusa to be out before he’s dashing inside in his place and closing the door back behind him. 

“Do you need me to hold it—?”

“No no I locked it!” he shouts, letting out a long relieved breath, having finally reached his long-awaited and hard-won destination. 

When he gets out he finds Sakusa is still washing his hands by the sink. 

He joins his side and pushes two rounds of soap in his hand. The sinks are of the automatic kind that opens when you put your hand under it, which must have been nice for Sakusa, he thinks. Hinata washes his hands and then turns to look at his teammate. 

“Omi-san, I think we should go back, or the bus will leave without us.”

Sakusa looks up at him through the mirror and sighs, pulling back from the sink. 

Hinata is about to pass him one of the paper towels, but sees him pull out a handkerchief from his pocket and use that to dry his hands. Hinata observes him impressed. Such organization. 

They walk back out together and Hinata finds out that there was a much simpler and much shorter route to the entrance than the one he took on his way in. Thank god he found Sakusa who’s a sensible person who knows his surroundings. 

“Took you long enough!” Bokuto exclaims as soon as he spots them approaching. 

Hinata laughs and runs the last few meters to the side of the bus. “I got _lost_! You won’t believe how big that place is inside, Bokuto-san!” 

Bokuto pats him on the back making him stumble a bit forwards and then starts pushing him towards the entrance of the bus. “Go on, you need to sit down first near the window so then I can pass out again,” he says, pushing him all the way down the aisle to their row. 

Hinata lets him, settling down in his seat and looking out of the window where he can see the others still chatting in a small circle near the end of the bus. 

He looks for Sakusa anywhere but there, figuring he’d stay somewhere on his own to settle down, and wanting to check up on him since he didn’t get the time before with Bokuto pushing him inside. He can’t see him anywhere, though, so he looks back at the little crowd. He can spot Inunaki laughing merrily, and Tomas stretching his arms over his head, and Atsumu talking animatedly, blinking in and out of view from behind Barnes' huge back that almost covers the entirety of Hinata’s line of sight. 

Until Barnes turns around to enter the bus and Hinata sees that Atsumu isn’t the only one who was hiding behind the man. There’s also Sakusa, sticking close to Atsumu’s side. He’s currently sending a very dark look Atsumu’s way, who’s just laughing along with Inunaki. 

Then the others start to head back on the bus and the only ones left behind are the two of them. Hinata looks as Atsumu says something, he can’t hear him from inside and doesn’t understand what he’s saying just reading his lips, but he sees the way Sakusa’s shoulders visibly relax and his frown melts away. Atsumu just smiles, raises a hand and pats it on Sakusa’s shoulder, pushing him a little to walk, and then they too make their way up on the bus. 

Hinata turns to face forward again as they walk down the aisle. Sakusa nods at him, maybe one last thanks for before, and Hinata nods back. He’s glad he settled down from whatever panic he’d had in the bathroom. He watches him slide away in a seat further down, far away from the rest of the team. Atsumu, who was tailing him, jumps in the seat behind Hinata’s. He rests his arms on the back of his chair and leans forward to look at Bokuto. “He’s already knocked out again, huh?” 

Hinata chuckles, realizing that yes, Bokuto is already fast asleep beside him, quietly snoring away. 

“Makes ya wonder what he did last night that has him so desperate to catch up on sleep for the whole day,” Atsumu comments, a wicked grin on his lips. 

“Maybe he binged a show,” Hinata thinks out loud.

Atsumu laughs. “Geez, yer innocent. I love ya Shoyo-kun, never change.”

“Huh?” He frowns up at the setter, then the implications catch up to him and he feels his face heat up. “No!”

Atsumu laughs again. “Sorry.”

“Go away!” he shouts, pushing at his arms to make him drop them from his seat. Atsumu complies with one last chuckle, settling down in his own seat as the bus doors close and it starts moving. 

Hinata takes his phone out just to have something to do, since Bokuto is out of the question, conversation wise. Not even one minute into the first song he’s listening to a hand shoots out from above him and grabs his earbuds, stealing one. Atsumu is once again draped over his seat with his cheek squished against his arm and a bored look on his face. 

“Omi-kun doesn’t want to hang out with me, Shoyo-kun.”

“I’m sorry, Atsumu-san.” Hinata isn’t sure why that is bothering Atsumu so much. It’s not like Sakusa hangs out with any of them, and Atsumu is social enough that he could hang out with any other member of the team without much trouble, so why does he look so pouty?

“What’s this yer listenin’ to?” Atsumu asks, listening carefully at the music from the stolen earbud. 

“Lemon Demon.”

“Who? Wanna stream a match to pass the time?”

Hinata is not the kind of person to pass up an opportunity to watch a volleyball match, so he straightens up and yells: “Yes!” 

“Shh,” Atsumu says, hands jutting out to clamp over Hinata's mouth as he eloquently eyes Bokuto, snoring away undisturbed. 

Then Hinata gets a message on his phone and looks down to find that Kageyama has finally answered his text from two hours before asking if he wanted to hang out after the match the next day. 

**Bakageyama:**

No.

Hinata pouts down at his phone. Stupid Kageyama. 

“Aw, what’s up?” Atsumu asks, trying to peek at his screen. 

“Kageyama doesn’t want to hang out with me after the match!”

Atsumu pats his back and Hinata has a sudden realization, hearing Atsumu’s words from just a few minutes before echo back in his own voice. Oh, so maybe Sakusa and Atsumu were closer than they seemed to be. If they were best friends like Hinata and Kageyama then it made sense that Atsumu was sad about being ignored. Hinata knew the feeling all too well. 

“Let’s distract ourselves from our woes, c’mon,” Atsumu says, plucking the phone from his hands and putting it in the overhead compartment. “Out of sight and out of mind, right?” He takes out a tablet from his bag and hands it to Hinata. “Look up... Oh, can ya find some beach volley matches recordings? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one from start to finish.” 

Hinata feels his eyes start to sparkle. “Yes I can.”

“Wait, one more thing.” Atsumu rummages around his bag some more and emerges with a pair of noise cancelling headphones. He wiggles his eyebrows at Hinata as he carefully lowers them on Bokuto’s head. “There. Now we can do whatever.” 

Hinata shoots him a thumbs up and raises the tablet up. “Let’s go!”

One check in into their assigned hotel, one dinner, one shower and one fretful night of sleep later, they’re back on the bus, this time already dressed for business and with less than an hour left to their destination: the Kamei Arena Sendai. It holds nothing to the twelve hours it took them from Osaka to the hotel, but they still need to calm the jitters from the upcoming match, which is why Hinata is showing Atsumu compilations of best beach volleyball plays on Youtube.

Bokuto is, incredibly, asleep again, Atsumu’s headphones safely back in place on his head, shielding his ears from their inevitably loud commentary. 

Atsumu is still baffled by how fast he can fall asleep. “Bet he stayed up too late again on the phone last night,” he comments, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Hinata just frowns. And then there’s Heictor on screen, with his new partner, catching his eye and demanding his attention back. “Heictor!” he says, raising his phone up so Atsumu can see better. 

The setter whistles, impressed. “So, that’s the guy you teamed up with, huh?” he asks, and Hinata nods enthusiastically. “Woah. Looks like one intimidating mountain of a man to me.” 

“Yeah, his blocking is super intimidating!” Hinata confirms, “but he’s usually all smiles and fun times. I heard he’s gonna be a dad soon—”

“Really?”

“— so he’s just extra focused on playing his best right now.”

“Congrats to him!” 

Then the video ends and an ad comes up. And there’s Kageyama in the ad. 

Hinata lets out a surprised hum, while Atsumu just groans. “There it is. Tobio-kun’s stupid commercial.”

Hinata is… well, kind of shocked. Why didn’t he know about this? Why didn’t Kageyama tell him he shot a commercial? And… it’s terrible. He’s _terrible_ at acting. Hinata can’t help but laugh. He definitely lost track of the camera. God, Kageyama is so stupid. 

Then the bus brakes, Bokuto jolts awake like someone just turned on a switch and literally hurls himself down the bus ignoring Atsumu’s remarks as he makes fun of him. 

Hinata beams out of the window. 

He’s finally here.

He's back in Sendai. 

He’s going to face off against Kageyama. 

He’s buzzed. He’s ready. 

He needs to go to the bathroom. 

* * *

#  **2.**

There aren’t a lot of things Hinata is confident in proclaiming himself _extremely_ good at, but one of them is being consistently aware of everything that happens on the court during a match. 

Which is why, after one particularly nasty spike from Sakusa that lands directly in the middle of the opponents’ court, untouched, Hinata stands agape while said spiker raises his hand to high-five their setter, proceeding then to graciously dodge everyone else’s attempts at cheering and discreetly avoid the celebratory group hug. 

Sakusa doesn’t do _high-fives_. He barely even joins in the post play huddles with the rest of the team, usually limiting himself to a composed clenched fist. 

Usually. 

But now, things might have changed. 

If Sakusa is actually down to high-five his teammates, from now on, it means the world might have shifted on its axis. It means that the stability of the whole universe is about to be destroyed with the clap of two hands against each other. It’s groundbreaking news. It changes _everything_.

Even so, with the balance of the universe under threat, the match still goes on and Hinata must shake himself back into reality, ready and aware for the next rally.

It’s almost at the end of the second set when he sees it again. He watches Sakusa extend an arm towards Atsumu silently, fist closed. Atsumu bumps it with a simple smile, no cutting words to go with it, no witty remark or annoying jab. Just silent acceptance. 

_Huh._

Well, color him surprised. Sakusa is willing to allow celebratory touches on the court, now. Well, maybe. There is one more thing Hinata has to make sure of before reaching a verdict. 

He decides to investigate further the next time Sakusa scores, a couple of rallies later, running up to him. “Omi-saaaan!” he shouts, hands raised up in the air. “Nice kill!” 

Sakusa’s eyes widen a fraction in seeing him approach, and he _nope_ s out so fast that Hinata runs past him and almost into the net. 

‘ _Huh_ ’ indeed _._

So high-fiving is restricted to only Atsumu, then? 

“Bokuto-san?” Hinata whispers to him during the technical time-out when they reach 16 points first. 

Bokuto bends down slightly towards him to conspire better. 

“Next time Omi-san scores… try to high-five him or something.”

“But he doesn’t like that,” Bokuto comments, eyebrows furrowing together. 

“I know, but he high-fived Atsumu-san, so I think he might be down to do it in the right circumstances.”

“ _Oh_ ,” Bokuto says, holding index finger and thumb to his chin in a scheming way. “I see. So you want to test what the _right circumstance_ is…”

“Yes,” Hinata nods, turning to look at the person concerned, who’s sitting on the bench with a water bottle in hand and a towel around his neck. 

Sitting right next to him is Atsumu, leaning back on his hands and talking animatedly about something Hinata can’t make out. 

Hinata is still watching when Sakusa snorts, one hand shooting up instinctively to cover his mouth, while Atsumu dissolves into chuckles as well. Then he sees Sakusa lean in to bump Atsumu’s shoulder with his. 

“ _Wow_ ,” Hinata finds himself whispering. 

“What?” Bokuto says, raising his bottle up to drink. Tomas, who’s standing next to him on his opposite side, sticks out a hand and stops him, turning the bottle around so he doesn’t shoot water out on the wrong side. “Oh,” Bokuto says, then beams at Tomas and thanks him. Tomas just shakes his head. 

“Look at them,” Hinata says, nodding his head toward the bench. 

“ _Oh_ ,” Bokuto lowers his voice once again to a complicit tone. “You think… Mh. If that’s how it is then we’re never gonna be able to high-five Omi-Omi.”

“Right?” Hinata hums to himself for a second. “If _that_ is what’s needed to be granted high-five privileges… I mean, I’m friends with Omi-san. At least I think I am. But there’s only one spot for the best friend position, right? And—”

“Wait, _best friend_?” Bokuto says, sounding confused. 

“Yeah, what else? Look at them. They’re so close. Omi-san won’t let his normal friends high-five him.”

“Hmm.” 

“What?”

“ _Well…_ ” Bokuto raises his eyes skywards. “You see,” he starts, but then the whistle blows and they all spring to action to get back on the court.

“High-five,” Hinata reminds Bokuto, pointing one finger at him. “We need proof.”

Bokuto nods, and shoots him a thumbs up. 

And no, Sakusa doesn’t let Bokuto high-five him either. 

The final hypothesis is that he simply ran out of cheering juice after one high-five and one fist bump. He hasn’t cheered with Atsumu either, ever since the second set.

Now they’re almost to the end of the fourth, going strong with a five point gap and with the match point just at arm’s reach. They’re all starting to get tired, and still jumping like it’s the first set, still fighting, still slamming ball after ball and running, jumping, baiting, running, bumping, running. Then Atsumu sets, a beautiful arch that Hinata barely sees because he’s busy jumping on the opposite side of the court, and Sakusa’s palm connects with the ball, and _snap,_ it’s on the ground. 

Hinata lands on his feet, the crowd explodes in applause, the opponents scoff and huff and slap hands against each other's backs, saying the usual “Don’t mind, we’ll get the next!”, and Hinata turns to congratulate Atsumu on his set, only to see that he’s already high-fiving— (no, _ten_ . Both hands involved) Sakusa. It’s fast and hard, a loud _clap_ resonating around the court, and then Atsumu is turning away, high-fiving other people, and Sakusa slips away silently. He must feel Hinata’s stare on the back of his head, though, because he turns and meets his eyes. 

Hinata still has the muscle memory of celebrating with Kageyama on the court and absentmindedly raises a thumbs up at Sakusa, who frowns at him briefly, then nods in acknowledgment. 

Hinata turns to look towards the net. Yeah, Kageyama didn’t like high-fiving either. He accepted them on special occasions and if certain conditions were met, which was what Hinata thought Sakusa might be doing too. But Kageyama accepted it from anyone, as long as the special conditions (mostly how important the point had been in the context of the game) were met. 

This is different though. The only condition seems to simply be “be Miya Atsumu”. 

How nice it would have been if Kageyama only high-fived and fist bumped him, back in the day. That’s something that’s really bound to make you feel special. Like there’s no way you can doubt you being best friends after something like this.

 _Rivalry my butt_ . There were way better ways to feel special to a person. Why had he always settled for what he had, when he could have had _more_ all along? 

Hinata smiles to himself, raising his arms to cover the back of his head as Atsumu takes his ritualistic steps before serving. Next time he plays with Kageyama he’s gonna fist bump him so hard he’ll break all his fingers. Okay, maybe not, he needs those to set… _But_ , no matter if it’s going to be two years from now at the 2020 Olympics or during the friendly match with their old teammates that he’s been trying to organize for ages. He’s going to make Kageyama cheer with him. He’s gonna get what he wants and he’s gonna feel special while doing it, and _no one_ can stop him. Least of all Kageyama.

* * *

#  **3.**

Bus rides to away games are always a gamble for Hinata. He either has the time of his life for the whole journey or gets bored out of his mind in the span of two minutes. There really is no in between. And after a year into the Jackals he’s pretty confident in saying that it’s been a clean 50/50 chance every time. 

This once, it’s fun. 

He’s kneeling on his seat, turned to look at the row behind him, where Atsumu and Sakusa are very animatedly bickering. He wouldn’t have guessed, a year before, that one day Sakusa would move up from his lonely seat in the back, the farthest away from everyone, to the loudest seat in the whole bus, with Atsumu at his side and Bokuto and Hinata in front of him. It’s funny, in some way, but not really surprising. He does hang around Atsumu all the time recently so it’s only natural he’d sit next to him on the bus too. Even if they fight. And oh, how they’re fighting now. It’s more entertaining than any series Hinata might have planned to catch up on in the good couple hours of the trip.

He rests his chin on his arms and snickers as Sakusa starts pushing Atsumu’s face towards the window with a hand on his cheek, and Atsumu, affronted, hooks a finger in Sakusa’s mask and pulls it down, proceeding to try and sneak a finger inside his nose. 

_Ooh that’s low, Atsumu-san,_ Hinata thinks, raising a hand to his mouth and gasping.

Luckily Atsumu doesn’t succeed. Sakusa is good at dodging. 

All the while they’re both loudly spouting insults at each other Hinata will absolutely not repeat. 

It’s all good fun. 

Until Meian arrives, standing hunched in the aisle (because if he stood at his full height he’d probably hit his head on the ceiling), but still managing to look threatening, and the two stop at a stand still, hands still pushed against each other's faces, looking up at the captain with wide eyes and not even an ounce of regret showing in them. 

“Are you done?” Meian asks. “Some people are trying to nap.” Hinata looks up to see Inunaki peek from above a seat further down the bus with a dark scowl on his face. Hinata shoots him an apologetic smile and then meets Meian’s scolding glare, now directed straight at him. He wasn’t doing anything, but he still shouts a “sorry!” and turns to sit back down properly in his seat. 

He hears the two behind him apologize quietly as well, and then he hears Meian mutter and leave. 

He waits a couple of moments, to make sure he’s really gone, before turning to peek behind him from the gap between his seat and Bokuto’s. 

He was kind of expecting them to be quietly fuming by themselves now, so he frowns when he sees that they’re _smiling_ at each other. 

Sakusa has his mask pulled up again, but Hinata sees the way his eyes crinkle in the way they do when he’s grinning, and Atsumu is biting his lips so hard they’re turning white, in an attempt to stifle laughter, eyes shimmering with tears and shoulders slightly shaking. 

Hinata smiles and turns to sit facing forward again. He’s glad to know that they were having as much fun as he was. 

It reminds him of how he used to playfully fight with Kageyama all the time in school. They also fought more seriously a couple of times… those weren’t as fun. He wonders if Atsumu and Sakusa fight seriously too. Well, friends fight all the time, and best friends more than anything. It’s normal. At least for his best friend standards, which he is starting to realise is not quite in the _norm_.

He takes out his phone and without really thinking opens Kageyama’s contact. He hovers his thumb on the call button, but doesn’t call. He’s probably going to be busy, in the beginning of the new season with a new team in a new country. Not to mention the time zone difference with Italy. It’s probably night there, even if Hinata doesn’t have the mental strength to do the math right now. Kageyama won’t answer and then Hinata will feel rejected. 

He sighs, staring down at the screen. 

In the end he sends a text, telling him of a cool ramen place he found in Osaka that hosts eating competitions, and that the next time he visits they should go. 

Yeah… he misses having Kageyama around to fight with and race against and complain to and make fun of. Is it weird? They still text. And sometimes call, even if mostly only after matches to talk about the game. So it’s not like they’re complete strangers, now that they’re apart… But Hinata still misses having him around to pester and argue with. It’s not weird, right? It’s not weird to miss your best friend when he’s far away. 

He really should call him more often. 

And call him he does, that same evening. They won the match, took a shower, and went back to Osaka to have the usual post-game meeting about it, and then had the rest of the afternoon for themselves. Hinata stayed behind at the gym to practice, and so did Bokuto, Inunaki, Atsumu and Sakusa. Everyone else complained about being too old for this, even Tomas, to Inunaki great disappointment and displeasure, saying that since Tomas was only one year older than him he had no right to proclaim himself _old_. 

After the extra practice there was another shower, and now it’s 6pm and Hinata is in the locker room, pulling the zipper of his jacket up and fishing his phone out of his bag. He hopes he did the math right, but he’s pretty sure it should be around 10 in the morning in Italy, so Kageyama should be awake. He might already be at practice, but it’s a risk Hinata’s willing to take. 

He presses the call button as he closes up his gym bag and turns around to lean against his locker as the line rings. He looks at the only other person who’s dressed up and ready to leave but is still hanging back. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it’s Sakusa. He’s standing near his own locker and absentmindedly thumbing through a manga while he, Hinata supposes, waits for Atsumu to be done showering. Inunaki and Bokuto already left so, unless he’s waiting for Hinata (and for how much Hinata considers them to be best buddies he doubts that’s the case), there’s only one other person he could be waiting for. They do live close to each other and go home together every day, so it’s nothing special. 

And here Atsumu comes, as the line continues to ring free and unanswered in Hinata’s ear. _Uff,_ Kageyama must be at practice already. Bummer.

He watches Atsumu approach Sakusa while he puts on his jacket, rest a hand on his shoulder and lean in to see what he’s reading. 

“Look, it’s you,” Sakusa says, pointing at something on the page. 

Atsumu tilts his head as he reads, then chortles, leaning back. Hinata doesn’t hear his more thoughtful reply though, because the line cuts and he thinks it must have disconnected for overtime, so he’s about to put down the phone, defeated. Instead he hears a familiar voice on the other side go: “ _What happened_?”

“Oi, is this the way to greet someone? Rudeyama!”

“ _Did someone die_?”

“No!”

“ _Then why are you calling—?_ ”

“Oh my god, I just wanted to chat for a while! Why do you have to make it weird? We text all the time, can’t we call sometimes?”

“ _I’m starting practice now_.”

“Right… Fine, sorry to bother. I’ll… I’ll hear from you later?”

“ _Huh_.”

“Okay, it’s fine, if you can’t it’s fine, don’t worry about it!”

“ _What time is it there?_ ”

“Now?”

“ _No, yesterday_.”

“Ha ha, _very_ funny. It’s 6:09 pm.”

“ _Okay. Three hours_.”

“What?”

“ _I’ll call you back in three hours. On lunch break. I have to go now, I can’t just_ chat.”

“Oh! Okay! That’s great!” 

“ _Hm_.” And after that he just hangs up. 

Hinata frowns at his phone screen, reading ‘call ended’ and that the running time is barely a minute long. “Wow, rude.”

“What’s wrong, Shoyo-kun?” Atsumu asks, in the process of fixing his hair using his phone, that Sakusa is kindly holding up for him in selfie mode, in lieu of a mirror. 

Hinata sighs, tries to find a way to summarize everything that’s been swirling around in his head ever since Kageyama left for another country that’s eight hours away from him, and in the end just ends up hissing: “ _Kageyama_.”

Sakusa snorts quietly, Atsumu nods sagely. “Understandable.”

Hinata huffs. “Do you two not call when you don’t see each other?” he asks them. 

“I’m never lucky enough to be free from this idiot long enough to have to _call_ ,” Sakusa says. 

Atsumu hits him on the arm. “ _Hey!_ ”

“Anyway. Some people just don’t like speaking on the phone,” Sakusa goes on, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “Don’t hold it up against him too much.”

“Yeah, but if we never speak we’ll…” _We’ll drift apart. Stop being friends_ . And if that were to happen... _well , I’d miss him. I already do._

“Maybe do video-calls,” Atsumu suggests, walking towards the door, “They’re awkward at first, but it’s better than voice-only calls.” He opens the door but still doesn’t leave. “Ya can see each other’s faces, at least. I know I like it better—”

“Who would ever willingly want to look at _your face_?” Sakusa asks, walking out of the door without waiting for a reply.

Atsumu sticks his tongue out at his back, then turns briefly to Hinata. “Ya comin’?” he asks, still holding the door open. 

“Yep!” He quickly grabs at his bag and runs out the door, thanking Atsumu for holding it on his way through. 

“And, hey, Hinata?” Sakusa says, while they’re saying their goodbyes after having waited for him to unlock his bike. 

“Yeah?” he turns around, one foot on the ground and the other ready on the pedal. 

“I know it might seem a bit hypocritical coming from me, but. Try not to worry too much about it.”

“Huh?” 

“I’m sure he wants to talk to you just as much as you do, even if he doesn’t say it,” he adds, then raises a hand in a wave and turns around, starting to walk away. 

Atsumu lags behind for a second, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Huh, what was that about?” he mutters to himself. Then, “Well, whatevs! Bye, Shoyo-kun! Good luck!” He waves too and runs for a couple of strides to catch up to Sakusa. 

Hinata sighs and starts pedalling. How can he not worry? He misses his best friend, and worries he doesn’t miss him back. It’s normal to worry, right? It’s his best friend we’re talking about. Are they still even best friends? Can he still call him that? Can he— No. This will lead nowhere.

He pedals faster.

* * *

#  **4.**

The end of the season of Hinata’s second year in the Jackals brings many nice things. One, a lot of wins at their back and the first division championship. Two, interesting offers from other teams for him to consider, especially one from ASAS Sâo Paulo he’s been ogling with some hunger. Three, and one which Hinata is particularly excited for, a V. League gala dinner. He’s never been to one, never even eaten at a classy restaurant, so he's looking forward to the fancy food. He’s also looking forward to hanging out with everyone, and he means literally _everyone_. He even called Kageyama and managed to convince him to come back to Japan for a couple of days to attend with him, since a good number of their old friends are going to be there, and Hinata has a free invitation for a plus one. Natsu is a little mad he won’t take her, but he thought bringing Kageyama would be more fun. And Kageyama must have wanted to see everyone again too, because he had accepted. 

So yeah, you really can’t blame Hinata for being excited. He hasn’t seen Kageyama in person in months _and_ he’s going to eat fancy food… He absolutely can’t wait.

And he isn’t the only one who seems excited about the gala. It’s all Atsumu seems to be able to talk about in the locker rooms, and three times out of four he’s trying to convince (more often than not straight up bribe) Sakusa into wearing some variant of equally obnoxious outfits to match with him. 

The day before the actual dinner Atsumu is visibly desperate (much to everyone else’s amusement), and Sakusa is visibly fed up (much to everyone else’s sympathy). 

“If I agree will you shut up?” Sakusa asks after one drawn out and high pitched “ _pleeeeease_ ” from the setter. 

“Yes! I will never speak again, I promise, please Omi-kun!”

“Fine,” Sakusa sighs. “It’s just a tie, whatever.”

Atsumu cheers. “We’ll be so fashionable, you’ll see!”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t speak.”

Atsumu bites his lips and makes a show of closing them up as if with a key, then tosses it away over his shoulder.

“Finally we know peace,” Meian comments, pretending to pick up the invisible key off the ground and put it away in his pocket.

“Hey!” Atsumu complains, bringing a gasp out of Bokuto. 

“He speaks!” 

Hinata laughs and wonders if Kageyama would be down to wear something to match with him. He has to remember to ask him. 

Kageyama was not, in fact, down to match. 

But he’s wearing a deep blue suit that compliments his eyes and he looks really handsome in it, so yeah, no one is actually complaining. 

Hinata arrived at the venue quite early, because he couldn’t ride his bike in a suit, he’d sweat way too much, and he didn’t trust public transport to deliver him on time, so he’d taken the bus before the bus before the one he should have taken according to the schedule. That had the obvious outcome of making him the first one to get there. At least, that’s what he thought. He turned the corner expecting to find an empty sidewalk all the way to the entrance of the venue and instead found himself face to face with Kageyama who, upon locking eyes with him, sprinted down the block. 

No sweating in the suit be damned, Hinata started to run after him. And he managed to win too, even if he cheated a little by grabbing Kageyama’s sleeve and pulling it back, effectively slowing him down. 

Now Hinata has discarded his jacket, draping it over the back of his chair, in the hopes of letting the sweat dry faster, and has his legs spread out straight in front of him, feet pulsing with pain inside his rigid fancy shoes that were _not_ made for running. 

Kageyama on the other hand looks completely unfazed, gobbling up the contents of a little plate of appetizers salvaged from the buffet table. People have just started to gather around it now, maybe encouraged by seeing Kageyama help himself without second thought. Despite the earliness and the run, they still weren’t the absolute first ones to arrive, but they’ve been sitting around for around twenty minutes already and the bulk of the crowd is just starting to trickle in now. There’s still no sign of Bokuto or anyone else that they know that he could walk up to and chat with. Hinata is starting to get bored. He’s already rearranged his cutlery three times, just to let his hands do something, and Kageyama is not being very receptive to starting a conversation since his mouth is always full. 

“If you eat so much already you won’t have enough space for the rest of the fancy dinner!” Hinata points out, reaching out a hand to steal a couple of pretzels from Kageyama’s plate.

Kageyama just mumbles something unintelligible with his mouth half full and Hinata shakes his head, turning towards the entrance, willing for someone else he knows to walk in, someone he can talk to, someone fun— 

And, think of the devil, he spots Atsumu. 

“Oh Kageyama look!” he exclaims, slapping a hand repeatedly on his arm to catch his attention.

“Huh?” Kageyama says, cheeks puffed up with food. 

Hinata huffs and pulls him up by an arm, starting to drag him towards the entrance. 

“Shoyo-kun!” Atsumu greets, raising his arms. He is wearing a golden jacket with black lapels and a white shirt underneath, and standing half a step behind him, with a dark scowl and dressed all in black except for a bright yellow tie that actually matches Atsumu’s jacket, is Sakusa, who looks on the verge of throwing hands with the first person who crosses his path, or maybe throw up.

“Atsumu-san! Omi-san! Hello!” 

Sakusa nods at him in acknowledgment, eyes only marginally softening for him. Atsumu hugs him tight, then pulls him back at arms length and pats his shoulders. “Lookin’ good, Shoyo-kun! I dig the bowtie.”

“Thanks!” Hinata replies, hands flying instinctively to straighten it. He chose orange in honor of Karasuno, and is pretty proud of his purchase. 

“Aw look at ‘em,” Atsumu whispers, resting an elbow on his shoulder and leaning in so only he can hear. “They’d get along _swell_.”

Hinata turns to look at Kageyama and Sakusa, who are awkwardly staring at each other without saying a word. Hinata studies Kageyama’s pale and serious face and wonders if he still has his mouth full and that’s why he looks so constipated. Hinata thinks he’d had plenty of time to swallow by now so he decides on the no mercy route and detaches from Atsumu to go slap his back really hard. Kageyama shoots up a hand to cover his mouth and lets out a strangled cough. _Ha_! He really did still have his mouth full. What an idiot. Serves him right. Except now he’s still coughing and probably choking. Well, shit. 

“See you around!” Hinata says to his teammates, grabbing Kageyama’s arm once again and pulling him away from prying eyes. Once secured he pats his back again, more gently, and ignores the death glare he gets as a thank you. 

They’re about to head back to their table when Hinata hears a voice echoing loud in the entrance hall. He straightens up. “Bokuto-san!” he exclaims, and after one eloquent eye roll from Kageyama that screams he doesn’t really feel like parading in front of everyone right now, Hinata leaves him behind to go greet the newcomer.

Hinata is talking. He wants to stop, but he can’t. He doesn’t like when this happens, he quite hates it, in fact. He knows he already told this story a hundred times, but he still can’t stop. He doesn’t want to stop. It’s not the talking that he hates, or the story. It’s the thing that causes it. Telling this story again is the only thing that’s keeping him rooted to the present. To the table he’s sitting at, to the people around him, to the ones that know it already (like Atsumu, who’s smiling fondly at him) and the ones that don’t know it yet and are hanging off his every word. He’s told it so many times he doesn’t even have to think too much about the words, they just flow out like a well-rehearsed speech. It’s the closest thing he can find to absentmindedly picking apart the paper menu, which Kageyama had slipped out of his fingers as soon as he’d seen he was wrecking a corner of it. “Fancy dinner,” Kageyama had told him. “No picking things apart.” 

And he’d been right, and trying to help, Hinata knew this, except that the dishes were taking way too long to arrive between one course and the next and Hinata was restless to do something. So talking it is. And that same story of how he lost his wallet is already pouring out of his lips, comforting in its familiarity. 

And then the story is over, maybe too soon, and he finds a heavy weight growing in his chest, demanding for more. Luckily food arrives soon after, and people ask him questions about his adventures in Brazil and he’s more than happy to answer. 

Even Kageyama provides a couple of topics, reminding him of that time he was in Rio for the Olympics and Hinata had dragged him around the city so fast he remembers it all in a blur. Hinata is really glad that Kageyama is sitting there next to him, even if he’s mostly just eating and humming and not doing much else. It’s a comforting presence, another thing that keeps him rooted in the here and now and allows him to look at the other people at their table, instead of his hands, which are wringing the corner of the table cloth between his fingers.

He manages to get to desserts without so much as the general vague weight of having to _move_ , but he’s relatively fine. Which is why he has enough presence of mind to notice that Sakusa is standing up from his chair. Hinata looks at his hunched shoulders as he murmurs something to Atsumu and then walks away. Atsumu turns back to the table, his stare lost somewhere in front of him. 

“Atsumu-san?” Hinata calls, making him move his eyes to him, gaze focusing and eyebrows rising in question. Hinata is not sure about being the best person to tell, but Sakusa did look kinda paler than usual, and he seemed to be on edge all evening. He doesn’t like crowds, unfamiliar situations, unfamiliar places, or unfamiliar people, so it’s possible he wasn’t doing well after hours of all this chaos. If there’s someone who would know if he’s really having trouble, someone who would know better than Hinata and who could help, it’s going to be Atsumu. “Is Omi-san okay?” Hinata asks.

Atsumu’s eyes widen just a fraction, in realization, and he’s standing up as well. “Be right back, don’t eat my dessert,” he says, but distractedly, like he’s already somewhere else with his mind. He starts patting around his pockets, as if to make sure he has something with him as he starts to walk away. Hinata watches him go.

A tap on his shoulder brings him back to reality. He turns towards Kageyama, who doesn’t say anything but is clearly asking him “You alright?”. Hinata nods, smiling slightly. Then someone asks about his beach volley partner, and he straightens up. 

“He has a kid!” he announces, proudly, almost like it’s his own. “I have a picture, wait.” 

The night is over, Hinata is exhausted. His throat is sore from all the talking, his feet still hurt and his head is slightly spinning from the wine, but he’s holding onto Kageyama’s arm while walking home so he’s not doing so bad. Kageyama said his hotel was close to the venue, but Hinata insisted he stayed at his house for tonight, and maybe Kageyama is tipsy too because he said yes. 

Sleepovers are fun. It was… well, all the way back in highschool, since he had one. 

They wait for the bus, sitting on the stop bench next to each other, thigh to thigh, shoulder to shoulder. The bright light under the roof of the stop surrounds them, acting as a shield between the rest of the street, shrouded in darkness. It’s a reverse shield in some ways, since the outside can see them and they can’t see outside, but it makes Hinata feel like he’s suspended in a liminal place, outside of time and space. God, he’s so tired. 

He leans his head down on Kageyama’s shoulder and waits for him to push him away, but it never comes. 

He can almost feel himself starting to drift off to sleep when Kageyama’s voice breaks through the veil of his slumber. “Remember our first year at nationals?”

“Mhm,” he hums, “What about it?”

“When you got a fever.”

“Yeah. That sucked. I still cry if I think too much about it.”

Kageyama stays silent for a moment. Then quietly says, “You did the same thing tonight.”

“I don’t have a fever now.”

“No, but you overworked yourself. In being social.”

Hinata laughs. “Is that even possible?”

“No.” There’s another pause, then Kageyama starts chuckling too. 

“Don’t you know everything about social batteries running low, Lonelyama?”

“In fact, I do.” 

“So what do you suggest we do now?”

“Nothing. Go home and sleep.”

“What else did you think we were doing?” 

He feels him shift a little under his head, then shrug.

“Sleep is the only thing I want to do,” Hinata announces, letting his mouth open wide in a jaw-spraining yawn. “For, like, ten years.”

“What about Sâo Paulo?” Kageyama was one of the few people Hinata had already talked to about the offer, and about his plan to accept it. 

“What about it?” he asks.

“You’re gonna miss it if you sleep so long.” 

Hinata chuckles and wiggles closer, rubbing his cheek a little against his shoulder. Sue him, he’s comfortable. There’s silence after that, so he looks up at Kageyama's face, and finds him looking away, eyes shiny under the bright white light of the stop, cheeks flushed a deep red. 

“Kageyama?” he calls, and can hear a smile coloring his voice funny, even if he didn't mean to smile. 

Kageyama looks down at him, and if possible his face grows even redder. 

“Are you okay?” Hinata asks, feeling himself frown. 

There’s a pause. Kageyama is just staring at him, not saying a word, barely breathing. 

“Are you drunk?” The question seems to break the spell, and Kageyama looks away again, towards the darkness of the night. 

“No,” Kageyama replies. Then after a moment amends with: “Maybe.” 

Hinata just leans back down, getting comfortable once again. “Me too.” 

He’s not sure of what is going on in his chest, but he feels nice. Still tired, but in a nice way. He could get used to this. 

The bus headlights light up the dark street, breaking them out of the bubble of light they’ve been hiding in until now. 

“C’mon,” Kageyama says, and takes Hinata’s hand to help him up. Even when they’re both standing, Kageyama doesn’t let go. 

* * *

#  **5.**

Hinata is leaving in a couple of weeks. He’s been arranging things for a few days already, getting his affairs in order, like making Atsumu return the various pieces of clothing Hinata has lent him over the years and never seen again. He has a list: a hat he bought in Brazil, one large hoodie that was originally Kageyama’s (but Hinata has claimed ownership after all this time since Kageyama never asked for it back), and a pair of gloves. He might also have a couple of his socks, but Hinata is not as attached to those, Atsumu can keep them. 

But he wants the rest back, especially the hoodie. 

He’s been telling him to bring them to practice for a week, but Atsumu always seems to “forget”, so Hinata has decided to ambush him and go directly to his house. 

He didn’t tell Atsumu he was stopping by, in case he tried to run, so he’s not too surprised when he rings the doorbell and doesn’t receive an answer.

He sighs. Figures he picked the only time Atsumu is not home. He turns to leave, but then the door behind him opens. He swivels back around, a finger already pointed and mouth full of accusations that die on his tongue as soon as he focuses on who’s standing in the doorway. It’s Sakusa. 

He has a band in his hair, pushing his curls away from his forehead, and is wearing an old sweater full of holes at the seams and a pair of sweatpants. His hands are covered in transparent plastic gloves, one of them clenched tight around the door edge. 

“Omi-san?” Hinata wonders, confused. 

Sakusa frowns down at him. “What do you need?”

“Uh. I have to get my clothes back.”

Sakusa squints at him in silence for a second, then steps aside and motions for him to come in, closing the door behind him. 

“Are you cleaning?” Hinata asks, observing his plastic gloves again. They don’t look like the cleaning type, though. More like the ones used to pick up fruit at the grocery store. 

“No,” Sakusa replies, then turns towards the deep end of the flat and shouts: “Miya, you have guests! At least come and see!” 

“If you’re busy I can come back later,” Hinata says, pointing back at the door with a thumb. 

Sakusa shrugs. “Not busy. Just dyeing his stupid hair.”

“Oh. He needs help with that?” he asks, confused. 

“Clearly he needs supervision,” Sakusa replies. 

“Shoyo-kun!” Atsumu exclaims, appearing from the only other door in the flat that’s not the entrance. He has a transparent plastic sheet wrapped around his head that makes him look a little stupid, a towel wrapped around his shoulders, and just a pair of boxers. 

Sakusa sighs at the sight, raising a hand as if to tell Hinata ‘ _see, that’s what I mean_ ’, and moves towards the little kitchenette in a corner of the room, opening up a cabinet and taking out a mug. Shoyo focuses back on Atsumu, who’s beaming at him with his hands on his hips. “What can I do for ya?” he asks. 

“I want my clothes back, Atsumu-san. Even if I feel sorry now because you clearly need them more than me,” he comments, surveying his mostly naked body. 

Atsumu laughs. 

“No, I’m serious though. I want them back.”

Atsumu’s smile morphs into a little pout. “But yer gonna be far away and I won’t have anything to remember ya by.”

“Atsumu-san!” Hinata whines. “At least the hoodie, please. It wasn't even mine to begin with!”

Atsumu straightens, eyes going wide and eyebrows rising. “It isn’t?” 

“No, it was Kageyama’s. You think I’d just own something so big? Why would I even buy it?”

“Okay this changes things. I’ll fetch it for ya right away. Wait here.”

It’s not like Hinata could go anywhere. There’s only one room. He does look towards the kitchenette though, as Atsumu starts rummaging through his closet. 

Sakusa is leaning against the counter, looking down at his phone and sipping from his mug. He looks up as if he knew Hinata was looking his way. Maybe he just noticed they’d stopped talking. 

“Did you leave your phone in the bathroom?” he says out of the blue. 

“Shit!” Atsumu startles, hitting his elbow on the edge of the closet, and runs quickly to the bathroom. He emerges a second later with his phone in his hand and a relieved sigh. “Still two minutes.”

Sakusa just hums, looking back down at his own phone. 

“Shoyo-kun, hold this for me, please.” Hinata holds out a hand so Atsumu can give him his phone, and looks down at the screen, displaying a selfie of Atsumu in the foreground, half of his face cut out of frame and tongue sticking out, Sakusa right behind him, mask pulled up over his nose and a dark look on his face as he judgingly raises an eyebrow at the camera. Behind them still, barely visible and slightly blurry in the background, are Osamu and Suna, the first showing off a middle finger and the latter a peace sign. _Aw, cute_. Hinata has had his lockscreen set to a picture of his friends for years. Ever since the first time he left for Brazil, when he missed them so much it hurt. The photo has been updated since then, everytime they all met up and took another. The phone rings with an alarm, and Atsumu finally emerges with the hoodie in question in his hands. He hands it to Hinata bowing and apologizing, and then grabs his phone back and says, “Let’s go, Omi! Gotta wash this away!” 

Sakusa detaches from the counter, leaving mug and phone behind. 

“Bye Shoyo-kun, see you tomorrow!” 

“Yeah,” Hinata replies, holding the hoodie close to his chest. “Uh, have fun!” 

Atsumu winks and trots back into the bathroom. Sakusa shakes his head and goes to open the door for Hinata. “Apologies for his manners.”

“It’s alright Omi-san.” He smiles, stepping out. 

“If you need I can look for your other stuff, too.”

“No, it’s alright. He can keep them, I just… I really just wanted this one back.”

Sakusa nods, as if he understands, which maybe he does. 

“Thank you.”

“ _Omi_ ! Move yer ass, I’m gonna go _bald_!” comes Atsumu’s voice from the bathroom. 

Hinata chuckles as Sakusa closes his eyes and sighs. Then his expression softens into a small smile. “Gotta go,” he says, “See you, Hinata.”  
“Yeah, go! Bye, Omi-san!” 

The door closes and Hinata takes out his phone as he goes down the stairs. He shoots a quick text to Kageyama.

**Hinata:**

_how many people do you think it takes to dye hair?_

He pockets his phone again, jumping the last few steps until he’s on the sidewalk. That’s how long it takes for his phone to start ringing. 

He wonders if it’s Atsumu calling to say he forgot something else, but he sees it’s Kageyama who’s calling. 

He barely gets to say “Hello?” before Kageyama is already speaking, voice harsh and accusing. “ _Why do you want to dye your hair?_ ”

“I don’t!” Hinata defends himself. 

Kageyama goes on anyway, sounding affronted. “ _It’s already_ orange _. Why would you dye it?_ ”

“I don’t want to dye my hair, Kageyama!”

“ _Then what is this about?_ ”

“I’m talking about Atsumu-san.”

There’s a pause, then a quiet “ _Huh?_ ” 

“Do you think he can’t dye his hair on his own?”

“ _I don’t know. I don’t think it’s gonna be that hard._ ”

“Right?” 

“ _Hm. Why?_ ”

“Nothing. But if I wanted to dye my hair would you help me?”

“ _So you want to dye it._ ”

“No, it’s a _hypothetical_.”

“ _I won’t help you ruin your hair._ ”

“Aw, you like my hair. That’s sweet—”

“ _Shut up, I don’t,_ ” he cuts him off sharply. “ _It’s just generally a bad idea._ ” Hinata laughs a little, and Kageyama cuts him off again before he can say anything else. “ _What is this all about, seriously! I don’t understand what you’re trying to say._ ”

“I’m not saying anything. Don’t worry about it.”

“ _Huh?_ ”

“I’ll see you soon.”

“ _If you show up with your hair dyed I’m gonna_ —”

“Bye, Yamayama!” Hinata hangs up. 

* * *

#  **+1**

**The BeeJays**

[10:32 JST]

**Shugo Meian:**

Have a safe flight, Hinata.

**Bokutooo:**

EAT A PASTA FOR ME PLEASE

**Inu_shion:**

Just one though, like one single spaghetto 

**Atsumu🏐✨:**

is it bad that i miss him already and we said goodbye at the airport like just half an hour ago? (｡•́︿•̀｡)

**ninja_shoyo:**

I’m not dead Atsumu-san. I haven’t even boarded yet. 

I will eat a pasta for you Bokuto-san! 

**Bokutooo:**

THANK YOU ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

**Atsumu🏐✨:**

someone tell bokuto how to turn off capslock

**Bokutooo:**

I know what I’m doing Tsum-Tsum 

**AdriahT** sent a gif

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] Boomer. 

**Bokutooo:**

How long is the flight going to be? 

**ninja_shoyo:**

Like TEN HOURS 

I’ll text you all when I land!!

**Bokutooo:**

〣( ºΔº )〣

**Inu_shion:**

I mean it was his choice to go the wrong way to visit his boyfriend

Could’ve gone directly to Brazil 

**ninja_shoyo:**

Inu-san there’s a whole ocean between us and America 

The flight to Italy is actually shorter than the one I took the first time I went to Brazil!

**Bokutooo:**

＼(º □ º l|l)/

**ninja_shoyo:**

And Kageyama is not my boyfriend, he’s my enemy.

**Oliver Barnes:**

[ _in english_ ] I have no idea what you all are talking about but have a safe flight Hinata! 🛫

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] Poor Barnes... it was nothing important, don’t worry 

**AdriahT** sent a gif

**Inu_shion:**

(눈_눈)

**ninja-shoyo:**

BOARDING!!!! SEE YOU GUYS BYEE

**Bokutooo:**

BYE HINATA I LOVE YOU

(っಥ﹏ಥ)っ.｡.:*♡

**Sakusa Kiyoomi:**

Fly safe

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

look who decided to show up!! good morning omi 

**Inu_shion:**

Aaaand he’s offline again lol

**AdriahT** sent a gif

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] Please, I’m begging you Adriah... stop 

— 

[22:57 JST]

**ninja_shoyo** sent a picture

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

SDJDKSKJ

**Bokutooo:**

WOW.

**Inu_shion:**

“Not my boyfriend” my ass.

**Shugo Meian:**

That’s so sweet! Glad you landed, have fun Hinata!

**Inu_shion:**

Yeah have /fun/ Hinata lol 

  
  


So. Hinata might have had to mute the Jackals Twitter group chat. 

Sure, he wasn’t expecting Kageyama to show up at the airport to pick him up with a flower bouquet either. That’s why he took a candid photo of him as soon as he stepped past the automatic doors into Arrivals and spotted him standing there staring with intensity down at his phone. 

But then, after Hinata had crushed him into a sneaky hug, and Kageyama had seen him be confused about it, he explained that the flowers had been Daniele’s (one of his teammates) idea, and Hinata brushed it off after that. It must have been an italian thing. Nothing too weird. 

But still. 

“You shouldn't have come all the way here!” Hinata complains as they walk out of the terminal, struggling to carry both his suitcase and his backpack with the bouquet perilously tucked under one arm. “We agreed to meet at the bus station in the city!”

“Yeah, but I wanted to come,” Kageyama retorts, trying to take the suitcase handle away from him again. 

Hinata shoos him away. “I can manage,” he huffs. 

They walk in silence after that, all the way to the stop for the bus shuttle that will take them to the city centre. 

They wait, standing there side by side, looking straight ahead at the road.

“Hmm… How was your flight?” Kageyama asks after a while, as if he just remembered proper manners. 

Hinata chuckles. “It was fine. A bit long but I napped and watched a couple of movies. They had the second Lego Movie and it was amazing! I totally cried a little.”

Kageyama snorts. “Yeah?”

“Yes! It was very moving.”

“Right.”

“I am _so_ tired now, though. It’s weird that it’s just…” he looks up and points a hand at the sky. “Day.”

“Timezones…” Kageyama supplies. “Truly a wonder.” 

“Haha, yeah…” 

_Oh, wow._ This is awkward. Hinata sways a little on the balls of his feet, smiles at an older lady who’s been staring at them, and then looks down at the flowers he’s holding in the crook of his elbow. 

He looks back up at Kageyama and sees he’s on his phone. 

“Who are you texting?” he asks, peering over his arm and only catching a glimpse of English. ‘... _flowers was bad idea_ ’ _._

“No one,” Kageyama replies, and pockets the phone. 

“Hmm.” Hinata sways some more, then looks down at the flowers again. “These are very pretty, you know?” 

He watches as Kageyama turns to look at him with a little hopeful rise of his eyebrows. 

“Thanks,” he adds. 

“Oh. Uhm. Yeah. You’re welcome.”

Hinata bumps his shoulder against his arm, and laughs. “So where are you taking me?” 

“Now? Home. You need to rest and shower also. You stink.”

“Wow, thank you.”

“No problem. Later if you want we can go out for dinner. There’s some nice places around my neighborhood.” 

Hinata smiles. “Sounds great.”

Hinata sits on Kageyama’s couch, shower taken and snack eaten, having just finished talking on the phone with his mum, and decides to send a text.

**The BeeJays**

[00:43 JST]

**ninja_shoyo:**

Anyone still awake?

Three minutes later there’s an incoming Skype video call from Bokuto. 

“Hey Bokuto-san!” he greets as soon as he sees his face appear and take over the whole screen, way too close. 

“Hey Shoyo! How are you?” Bokuto shouts, and then a quieter voice from his side tells him to tone it down, so he whispers a sorry and repeats the same thing in a quieter voice.

“I’m good, how are you? Why are you still awake?”

“I was reading a manga! I’m helping Akaashi— oh, wait.” He messily moves the phone around, giving Hinata a bit of motion sickness in the process, and then a sleepy Akaashi who’s rubbing at his eyes under his glasses appears into frame. “Look, it’s Shoyo!” 

“Ah,” Akaashi says, squinting at the bright screen. He seems to be sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by a lot of papers and with an open laptop in front of him. He raises a hand in a little wave. “Hello, Hinata.” 

“Hi Akaashi-san!” 

Bokuto moves again, and gives him a nice view of his nostrils as he walks away. Hinata hears a door close and then Bokuto stops moving, finally still and properly into frame. 

“Okay, all settled. Where’s Kageyama?”

“Taking a shower. I’m gonna eat pasta later tonight, Bokuto-san!”

“ _Yes_! Good job! Is Kageyama taking you somewhere nice?”

He’s about to answer when a notification pops up on the screen. It’s a message from the group chat. 

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

me! 

“Oh, Atsumu-san is awake!” Hinata says. “I’ll add him, wait.” 

“Okay!” 

A few moments later the screen splits in three and there’s another face, half shrouded in darkness. “Heya!” Atsumu greets, smiling wide but speaking quietly. He’s wearing headphones too. Hinata wonders if he’s out, but it’s too dark in the background to make anything out of his whereabouts.

“Tsum-Tsum!” Bokuto cheers. “Aw, we’re just missing Omi-Omi and then the squad is complete!”

“I can add him, see if he answers—” tries Hinata, but Atsumu cuts him off, shaking his head.

“Don’t bother.” He looks to the right for a moment, then back at the screen and adds, “He’s sleepin’ like a baby.” 

_How do you know?_ Hinata is about to ask, but he’s bombarded with questions about the flight (if it was boring, _just a bit_ , if they had movies, _yes!_ , if they gave him food, _yes and it was kinda gross_ ) about Rome (if Kageyama had taken him on a tour already, _not yet!_ , if he’s already eaten italian food, _just an orange_ , if it’s cold, _yes, the first days of March are still winter after all, but at least it’s sunny!_ ) and about Kageyama’s house (he takes them on a virtual tour of the small space, that’s really just two rooms and a bathroom. Atsumu still complains that it’s bigger than his). After the tour Kageyama joins in the call too, having finished his shower and being already dressed to go out. 

“All fancy dressed, look at ya, Tobio-kun!” Atsumu coes. 

Kageyama shifts uncomfortably on the couch where they’re settled again, refusing to lean back against the cushions so he doesn’t wrinkle his clothes. 

“And it’s just 5 pm!” Hinata says. “You didn’t have to dress up already,” he comments then, smiling and picking at his carefully pressed white shirt sleeve. 

“Well, yeah, but it’s annoying to dress and redress a thousand times. We’re going out in less than two hours anyway.”

Bokuto laughs. “Where are you going?” he asks. “Somewhere super romantic?” 

Atsumu makes a weird noise, half way between a snort, a cough and a squeal.

Hinata just frowns at the screen. “Nah, we’re just gonna go eat pasta!” 

“Pasta is romantic!” Bokuto supplies. “You watched Lady and the Tramp right?” 

“And yer in Italy to boot!” Atsumu contributes, “It’s like yer on a week long date in the maybe second most romantic country of the world!” 

“Ooh, what’s the first?” Bokuto asks, eyes wide and attentive.

“Paris, of course!” 

“Paris is a city,” a disembodied voice says from somewhere on the other side of the world. “Not a country.”

Atsumu whips his head up and to the right. “Shit, did I wake ya up?” 

“Yes.”

“Sorry. It’s Shoyo-kun.”

“Ah. Say hi from me.”

“Say hi yourself, sleepyhead.” 

“No, wait—” but Atsumu is already turning his phone and showing a half-asleep, squinty Sakusa, with his hair all sticking up in the wrong directions. He scowls at the screen, probably blinded by the glow that’s the only thing illuminating the room and shining in his face. “Hello, Hinata,” he says groggily, then turns to look at his left. “I fucking hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” Atsumu replies cheekily, before turning the phone again on himself. “Go back to sleep, I’ll move to the other room.”

“Good night, Omi-san!” Hinata calls, and Atsumu turns his head right and repeats: “He said ‘good night, _Omi-san_ ’.” Then he giggles and turns the video off. 

“Wow, gross,” Bokuto comments. “Anyway, let’s not think about that. Moving on.”

Hinata tries to figure out if they lost the connection with Atsumu or if it was a conscious choice, tapping on his own screen. “Did he leave?” he asks. 

“No, I didn’t,” comes Atsumu’s voice, a little muffled, then there’s a _thump_ and moment later the video comes back on. He’s in the light now, a kitchen cabinet in view behind him. “There,” he says. He has his headphones around his neck now, and he steps away with his hands raised as if bracing himself for something. He probably put his phone against something to keep it upright and is checking it holds. Satisfied with the result he lowers his hands and turns to get himself a glass of water. 

“Are you having a sleepover at Omi-san’s?” Hinata asks, which makes Bokuto laugh. “What? What’s funny?”

Atsumu finishes his water, then shrugs. “Ya can call it that.”

“When will you make up your mind and just move in?” Bokuto asks, a large smile splitting his face open.

Atsumu gasps, bringing a hand to his heart. “How inconvenient, Bokuto-san. Not before marriage.”

Bokuto laughs again, Kageyama tilts his head to the side and tentatively says: “Congratulations?”

It makes Bokuto laugh harder and Atsumu dissolve in giggles. “No, not yet,” he says when he’s calmed down enough to breathe properly again. “Too soon, Tobio-kun! I just met his mum like last week!” 

“Oh. Sorry.”

Atsumu smiles. “It’s okay. Plus we’re way too young to get married now, right?”

“But…” Hinata frowns. “Wait. You want to marry Omi-san? For real? Or are you joking?”

“Of course I’m jokin’, Shoyo-kun.” Hinata is about to sigh in relief, but then his brain registers the sarcastic tone behind his words, and Atsumu adds, “Who ever wants to marry their best friend, am I right?” 

Bokuto raises a hand, “I do.” 

“We know,” Atsumu sighs, but smiling. “What ‘bout ya, Shoyo-kun?”

“What?”

“What do ya think about marrying yer best friend?” 

Hinata turns on instinct towards Kageyama, who’s somehow both pale like a sheet and red like a beet. “I think…” Hinata starts slowly, turning with some difficulty back towards the screen, “That you should start with dating first. For a bit, at least.”

“Sounds fair,” says Atsumu. “What do ya think, Bokkun?” 

“Yeah, I got that down.”

“Me too.”

“Wait what?” Hinata asks again. “You’re dating Omi-san?”

“Uh? Yeah?” Atsumu frowns. “Wait ya seriously didn’t know? I thought ya knew.”

“Everyone knows,” Bokuto supplies. 

“That’s not true,” Atsumu says, “Ya just sneaked up on us at the gala and then I had to keep ya updated ‘cause ya wouldn’t shut up ‘bout it!” 

“Yeah yeah,” Bokuto shrugs him off, waving a hand in front of his face. “Still, you’re not that subtle, Tsum-Tsum.”

“But it’s been just a year—”

“Dude, you basically kissed at practice last month, everyone on the team knows.”

“We did _not_ kiss at practice. We kissed at _home_!”

“I don’t want to know!” Bokuto exclaims, covering his ears.

“I didn’t see anything!” Hinata whines, “Why didn’t I see anything?” And with all the eyes he’d been keeping on them because they reminded him of him and Kageyama… _Wait._

Hinata turns to Kageyama, who looks back at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did _you_ know?” Hinata asks, desperate. 

“Well, no, but I figured it out when he turned out to be at Sakusa-san’s house.”

“What!”

“I won,” Kageyama comments, smirking viciously. “I figured it out before you.”

Atsumu laughs. “Geez Shoyo, I didn’t think ya’d be so oblivious. Condolences, Tobio-kun.”

“Huh?” Hinata turns to Kageyama again, feeling left out of an enormous inside joke between everyone in the world but him. Kageyama, on the other hand, is once again very red in the face and he huffs, turning away from the screen as both Atsumu and Bokuto go on laughing. 

“Stop making fun of me!” Hinata says, “Just go to sleep!”

“That’s the sweetest way I’ve been ever told to go fuck myself” 

“Atsumu-san!” 

There’s more laughter, then finally they relent and agree to go to bed after one very big yawn from Bokuto. 

“Have fun at your dinner!” Bokuto tells them, “Don’t eat too much.” 

“I’ll eat one single spaghetto for you, Bokuto-san,” Hinata promises, holding up a finger.

“Thanks,” Bokuto replies, smiling tiredly but contentedly. He yawns around another goodbye and then disappears from the call. 

“Ah, well, I’ll go too,” Atsumu says. “Don’t stay up too late, it’s already night for yer body, Shoyo-kun.”

“Yes,” he replies. “Goodnight Atsumu-san. Say hi to Omi-san for me.”

“Okay I’ll give him a lil’ kiss telling ‘im it’s from ya. Let ya know how that goes.”

Hinata laughs. He still can’t quite picture Sakusa letting anyone kiss him, but oh well. If they’ve been dating for a year like they say they are it’s only natural. Still a bit weird. But hey, Hinata thinks that it’s nice. He’s happy for them. 

Still, the conversation doesn’t leave his head during dinner, or for the whole following day. 

_Condolences, Tobio-kun_. 

Did Kageyama… did Kageyama _like_ him? Was Hinata so foolish that he hadn’t realized? He kept thinking about it, as Kageyama showed him around the city, thinking about the nice restaurant he took him to the night before, at the candle on the table, at the flowers at the airport, at the last time they saw each other, last autumn, at how hard it had been to say goodbye, at the gala, one year before, when they held hands all the way to his house and curled up around each other in bed and blamed it on the wine the next morning. 

He thinks about it when they meet Daniele (who apparently is the teammate with which Kageyama is the closest, not to say the only one) for lunch. He’s only a couple of years older than them, and very nice and chatty. Even though none of them are particularly fluent in English, they make do and it’s fun. They eat a panino at a bar that Daniele knows, and are joined by his girlfriend, Giulia, in time for coffee. Giulia is fun, Hinata likes her a lot. He doesn’t order coffee for himself, though. From past experience caffeine just makes him jittery for two days straight, but he’s never drank an actual espresso. He settles by taking a sip out of curiosity from Kageyama’s and proceeds to munch on one mint chewing gum piece after another for the rest of the day to wash away the bitter taste. Daniele and Giulia come along with them for the rest of the afternoon, showing them around, giving little tidbits of history and curiosities about the hidden spots of the town. They take so many pictures of them in front of the main sights. Hinata wants to dip his feet into the Trevi fountain, but they tell him it’s illegal and also super cold so in the end he gives up. 

They take them around secret alleys and shortcuts, slip inside courtyards and churches. There’s one in particular that pulls a gasp out of Hinata’s lips as soon as they enter. He asks for the name again. Giulia beams at him, “Sant’Ignazio,” then in English, “Do you like it?”

Hinata nods, nose in the air and eyes glued to the vaulted ceiling. High above, thanks to a breathtaking affresco, it seems the roof isn’t actually there at all, but rather the walls break directly into a bright cloudy sky. Extending into the heavens are rows upon rows of people and angels, crowded around columns and arches made of paint instead of stone, built with brushstrokes instead of mortar, but it looks _real_. It looks so real it’s making his head spin. 

“What you’re seeing… the effect. It’s called _trompe-l’oeil_ ,” Giulia explains, her English far better than the other three of them combined. “The man who painted it is called Andrea Pozzo. I had to do a whole research project on the guy last year for uni and now I kinda hate him _._ ” She smiles, looking up at the ceiling. “He was a genius, though.”

“Yeah,” Hinata breathes out, still standing barely past the entrance unable to pull his eyes away from the ceiling.

“And, wait, there’s more.” 

She motions for him to follow her into the middle of the church. He’s glad it’s completely empty, no pews or chairs, or people except them. 

When he reaches her side she points at the dome. “Look at that,” she whispers, almost reverently.

It looks dark in comparison to the rest of the church and the bright cloudy ceiling. He likes domes, but this one seems pretty normal. 

“Now walk under it.”

He sends her a confused look, but does as she instructed, and once again finds his head starts to spin. The dome is not shifting. He’s moving, but… the dome is staying still. 

“No way!” he finds himself exclaim, voice echoing in the empty space. “It’s fake, too?” he asks, turning toward Giulia. 

She smiles, scrunching up her nose a little, then nods. 

“Wow _!_ Kageyama _mite_!”

“I know, _boke_ , I saw it already.” 

He looks back up at the dome— no, at the painting of the dome, and gapes. He walks back to the starting point and looks at it again. It looks real from here. Even if he knows it’s a painting, his brain is still trying to tell him that it’s real. That there is space up there, air and light. But now he knows the truth, and he can’t really suspend his disbelief anymore. He can’t help but _know_ that it’s fake. He likes the feeling though. It’s like being privy to a secret. Like knowing something he shouldn’t. 

He turns towards his friends, old and new, and laughs as Giulia takes a twirl in the middle of the empty floor. 

He makes eye contact with Kageyama, who smiles quietly at him, like he’s proud of having beautiful things to show him. 

_Condolences, Tobio-kun_. 

Hinata feels a knot form in his throat. Oh, so it’s the same. Now that he knows of the dome’s illusion, he can’t pretend it’s real even if he remembers how it felt to not know. He’d never even entertained the idea that Kageyama might like _him_ , but now that it’s been brought to his attention he can’t stop seeing it. And he can’t stop asking himself _do I like him too_? 

As they walk out of the church, following Giulia and Daniele’s lead, he keeps mulling it over, stealing glances, noticing things, like the way Kageyama’s hair falls over his forehead or how he pulls it back behind his ear. How he raises his shoulders in the cold and hides his nose in his scarf as they walk. How had he never noticed before? Or better yet, how has he never realized he had actually been noticing these things about Kageyama all along, ever since highschool. Because he can easily point out how he’s changed since then. He slouches way less than he used to, and his eyebrows are almost always relaxed, not like before when they were almost always scrunched up in a permanent mix of confusion, determination and fury. How had he never thought about this? They were attached at the hip in highschool to the point where people called them twins. He was aware even back then that he was obsessed with Kageyama, and that the way they interacted couldn’t qualify as normal behaviour between friends, because he had other friends but none of them had ever been like Kageyama. And then there was Brazil, and missing everyone so much it ached, and those wild few days they’d spent together while Kageyama was in Rio for the Olympics. And then that excruciatingly long period when it felt like they were growing apart. Hinata remembers how scared he’d been at the thought of losing him. So there had been more texts. More calls. More trips. And now here they are. With Hinata wondering what is happening. What he’s _feeling_.

It’s like he never realized he _could_ like him. That it was even a possibility. That it was _allowed_ . They were friends. A little different than normal friends, maybe, because they were _rivals_ first and foremost. He thought that was enough, that it was everything he could have hoped for, the best he could’ve ever had. And yet, he still wanted more. He’d always wanted more. He thought it was just the confirmation he was missing. The assurance that Kageyama considered him special just as much as Hinata considered _him_ special. But maybe it wasn’t just that. Maybe it had never been just that. 

On his second day visiting, they’re both up early. It wasn’t the plan, but Hinata is still jet lagged and woke up randomly in the middle of the night. Kageyama just has an early internal alarm clock. 

It’s barely 5 am, still dark outside, as they sit at the kitchen table and stare at each other in silence over two bowls of milk and cereal. 

“Wanna go for a run?” Kageyama asks. 

Hinata beams. “Okay.”

They run far, and for what Hinata is pretty sure is more than an hour by now. He’s not sure where they’re going, but he lets Kageyama guide him and trusts he knows where he’s going. 

Suddenly he recognizes the Colosseum. They’d been walking in another part of the city the day before, Hinata hadn’t even realized he had yet to see the most iconic monument of the city. 

But here it is, tall and large, looming against the deep blue sky that’s starting to light up with the first lights of dawn. 

Kageyama stops for a second at a crosswalk, and looks up at the monument. 

“Colosseum,” he says. 

Hinata laughs, jumping on the spot to keep warm. “I figured.”

“You like it?”

Hinata turns to look at it properly. He hums. “It’s huge.”

“First time I saw it I thought it was gonna be bigger.” 

“Bigger than this?” Hinata asks, baffled. “They built it by _hand_ Kageyama. Brick by brick! It’s massive!” 

“Yeah, it is. Still thought it’d be bigger.” Kageyama shrugs and resumes running, crossing the street and going down the left side of a long straight road. 

There are a few cars going up and down the road, but almost no passerbys, which makes running so much easier. They race for a block along a construction site and Kageyama stops again when the scenery opens to their left. 

He rests a hand on the metal railing, and points at the expanse of green before them, a field dotted with ruins and trees in the distance. 

“Foro Romano,” Kageyama says. 

Hinata looks, trying to figure out just how far it goes, beyond the trees. He can see a brick church on his right and a dome behind it. He can still see ruins in the distance behind them. 

“We’ll see it again from the other side, c’mon.” 

He starts running again. 

Hinata stays back one second longer to admire the shade of the sky against the trees, the lights turning off around them, the broken columns starting to cast shadows on the frozen grass, then follows behind him. 

He looks to the right and realizes there are old buildings on the other side of the road as well. He gapes, catching up to Kageyama under a canopy of tall pine trees, taller than he’s ever seen before. 

They come to a road that bends to the left. 

Kageyama stops again. “Wanna take the fancy stairs or this shortcut?”

“Fancy stairs?”

“Okay.”

“No wait I was asking what—” but Kageyama is already running away.

Hinata sighs and follows. At least now he knows they actually have a destination. 

The sidewalk opens on the cobbled street, suddenly wide and open. There’s a tall white wall on their left, two more domes to their right, and a number of other interesting architectural things, Hinata is sure, but he likes the domes, they stand out the most to him. The long street they were running down bends to the left and loops around the tall white building that happens to be a giant classical looking temple on a huge base with a… a fancy staircase?

“These are the stairs?” he wonders, looking ahead and up at the temple. 

“Nah,” Kageyama says. “That’s not old, you know? Well, it is, but not as old as the rest. It’s fascist architecture, from the second World War. As was that street we took to get here.”

“And how do you know?”

“I went sightseeing when I came here! They taught me some stuff. I’m not a complete idiot, you know?”

“Says who?” Hinata says, jabbing a hand in his side. 

Kageyama ignores him, looking instead up at the sky. “C’mon, this isn’t what I want to show you, we have to move.” He starts running again. 

Hinata follows suit. 

They circle around the temple and Kageyama stops in front of a steep, steep staircase that leads up to a… church? Maybe? It’s made of red bricks and has a little cross over the door, so it’s probably a church. 

“This,” Hinata huffs, starting to be out of breath. “This is the staircase?” He frowns up at it and wonders who in their right mind would call it fancy. It’s just a steep climb of normal steps, and okay, they’re probably made of marble or whatever, but there’s nothing fancy about them. 

Kageyama grins. “Think you can’t do it?”

“Of course I can,” Hinata huffs. “Race you to the top.”

“Alright.” Kageyama settles one foot on the first step and Hinata copies him. “On three,” he says.

“You’re on,” Hinata replies. 

“One, two, _three!_ ” Hinata sprints. It takes him a dozen steps to realize Kageyama is not beside him. He stops, turns around. 

He’s still standing at the bottom, grinning up at him like an idiot. 

“What?!” Hinata shouts. “What are you doing?! Are you stupid?” 

“You seriously thought these were the fancy stairs?”

“Kageyama!”

“Come down, dumbass.”

Hinata stalks back down the steps with a pout. “You’re so mean. I could’ve run up all of it and you would’ve let me.”

Kageyama chuckles. “Maybe. C’mon.” 

They walk a few more steps and there it is, right next to the stupid steep stairs. 

It’s not really a proper staircase, though. The steps are low and deep (it’s more of a slope than stairs, really) and there’s a nice marble railing on either side with little lamp-posts on top, already turned off in preparation of the upcoming sunlight. Two tall statues overlook the entire staircase from the top.

“This is… Michelangelo’s. I think.” 

“You _think_?” 

“Yeah, not sure. The square up top is his for sure though, I remember that.”

“Wow, you’re so smart.”

“Shut up.” Kageyama grabs his arm and starts running up the staircase that’s not really a staircase.

Hinata grabs the hand on his arm to free himself from the grip, but doesn’t let it go. He feels the coldness of Kageyama's fingers on the back of his hand, and the warmth already starting to build up from their joined palms. He holds on tight. 

They pop out in a square and Hinata is once again left breathless. There’s two buildings on either side, identical in their orange façades and white columns. They’re imposing but not in an intimidating sort of way. It looks… inviting. There’s a statue of a man on a horse in the middle of it all and behind him lies another building. It’s different from the two on the sides, but built with the same materials and in the same style. There’s a little clock tower on top and ascending marble stairs from the right and the left. 

“Piazza del Campidoglio,” Kageyama says, still dragging him along. “It’s cool, eh?”

“Yeah.” 

“It’s a little divergent, see, that side is wider than the one we came from,” he says, pointing at the building in front of them. “So it looks more welcoming.”

“It does,” Hinata marvels, nose rising up and down trying to perceive both the design of the pavement and the buildings at the same time as Kageyama pulls him along in a light jog. He’s pointing to the far left corner of the square. 

“Wait, this wasn’t the destination? This place is cool, let’s stop here a bit!” Hinata complains. 

“No. We’ll come back if you like it, for now just come with me.”

He goes along, not that he has much of a choice since neither of them have let go of the other’s hand.

Kageyama leads him between the buildings through the far left corner and Hinata’s eye immediately catches another set of stairs. 

“Oh, not these stairs too—” 

Kageyama laughs and it makes the breath get stuck in Hinata’s throat for a second. 

“No,” Kageyama says, and points to the right. “Wolf statue.”

Hinata looks. Perched on top of a solitary column is indeed a small bronze statue of a wolf, that looks more like a dog, to be honest, with two kids under it. “Oh, I know that one! She raised the twins that founded the city, right? I read it on the internet!” He needs to take a picture of the statue and send it to Atsumu.

“Yes,” Kageyama confirms, but he doesn’t stop there either. He bears left, taking the high road instead of descending to the right following the side of the building. They come to a gravel path under some trees, pass a couple of benches, and finally stop at a railing at the end of the path. Hinata leans on the railing, looking out at the view. 

To his left he can still see the white wall that makes up the back of the temple, straight ahead there are ruins scattered around, he can spot an arch and three tall columns between the wrecked walls. He can see trees behind the ruins, just like the ones they are standing under. Tall, huge, umbrella-like pine trees just like the ones they ran beneath earlier. There is a dome to his right and, in the distance, more buildings getting lost in the early morning fog, alight in the cold and sharp rays of dawn. The sun is just rising, painting the sky a muted pastel orange that fades into white and then to light blue overhead. 

Kageyama sighs at his side, satisfied to have made it on time for the sunrise. 

Hinata turns, following the cloud of warm breath that just left Kageyama’s lips and lightly squeezes his hand. 

Kageyama turns to look at him. “You like it?” he asks. 

Hinata doesn’t look away from his eyes, alight in the first sun rays hitting his face, as he nods. “Yes.”

Kageyama smiles, nose and cheeks red from the cold, and turns to look at the landscape again. 

A gust of wind sweeps by, raising his hair up from his forehead. Kageyama closes his eyes against the brisk air and Hinata is breathless once again. He feels surrounded by the strange and the unfamiliar, but he isn’t intimidated at all. It doesn’t feel like an imposing pressure that is engulfing and suffocating him. It feels exciting, and wonderful, and like he's being welcomed home. 

_Ah. This is what it’s always been_ , he thinks, this is what he’s always been looking for but never realized. It’s so simple, yet had always been barely out of sight and a little out of reach. 

No more. 

Hinata wants this, and he's going to go and get it.

“Kageyama?” he calls, quietly. There’s no one in this little corner of the city this early in the morning. No one to hear what they say or share the sunrise with them except the wind and each other. This moment feels so close, and yet so far away from the rest of the world. 

Kageyama turns towards him again. “Huh?” he asks, eyes half squinting, hair windswept, still breathing a little heavily from the run. 

“ _Posso baciarti_?” Hinata asks. 

Kageyama frowns, looking away. 

Oh. _Shit._

“Kageyama?” 

_Shit shit shit_ did he miscalculate this bad? Oh god, everyone else was right, he was so stupid and oblivious and couldn’t read clues at _all_ , shit, Kageyama was gonna hate him now—

“What?” 

But he is still holding his hand. Maybe all hope is not yet lost. Maybe… _Wait_.

“Did… did you hear what I said?”

“Yeah,” he replies, sounding like _duh, I’m not deaf_.

“Then? What’s the answer?”

“I don’t… I don’t know what it means.”

Hinata stills. “You don’t…?”

“I… I don’t actually _know_ Italian. It’s hard as fuck and it has so many stupid rules and I can barely read the latin letters anyway, so… yeah.” He shrugs a little, turning away even more, embarrassed. He’s _embarrassed_! 

Hinata is blinking. “You don’t know Italian,” he repeats, as if it will make more sense hearing it come out of his own mouth. 

“No. Just some basic sentences, like, _grazie_ , _prego_ , _arrivederci_ , _posso avere altro pane_ —”

Hinata can’t hold it in anymore. He bursts out laughing. 

“ _What_?” Kageyama asks, blushing an affronted red. “Don’t make fun of me! It’s hard for me to learn new languages, you know that!”

“I know, but god, Yamayama, you’ve been here for years!” He can’t stop laughing. He’s almost crying. “ _Não posso acreditar que poderia estar apaixonado por você_.” 

“What does _that_ mean?” Kageyama asks, a worriedly angry tilt to his eyebrows.

Hinata takes a deep breath to stifle the laughter, lets go of Kageyama’s hand and grabs his cheeks instead. They’re warm in comparison. He pulls Kageyama's face down to rest his forehead against his. “It means I want to kiss you.” 

Hinata can almost hear him swallowing with a hard _gulp_. “Ah,” Kageyama breathes out, warm against Hinata’s cheeks.

“So, can I?” he asks, and Kageyama nods a little against his forehead. 

Hinata feels his chest expand with air, like he’s finally able to breathe, as if up until now he’d been drowning, and leans in fast and carelessly, finally connecting their lips. 

They stay still like that for who knows how long, breathing in each other’s air, eyes closed, cold thumbs absentmindedly caressing warm cheeks. 

Until Kageyama smiles, and pulls back to look at him. Hinata wants to melt into a puddle, or maybe dissolve into smoke and join the mist, join the breath flowing from Kageyama’s lips. 

Or maybe grab his jacket and pull him down again, and kiss him again. And again and again. 

Until the end of the world. 

Turns out the end of the world was closer than he thought. The 10th of March, in fact. A mere four days later. 

Italy goes into lockdown. Global pandemic. 

Hinata is stuck at Kageyama’s house. 

He _could_ leave, technically. There are rules that allow travel for work or emergency or to return home. But he’s fine where he is. They’re both fine where he is. 

He calls his future coach, asking what is going on in Brazil, and he tells him to stay there. They’re going to lock up soon too anyway, so practice will be suspended for some time. No point in travelling all the way to Brazil for a few days of practice only to have to quarantine there anyway. It won’t be forever. Probably just a month or two, to allow proper safety measures to be put in place. He’ll meet his new team, eventually. But, for now, he has permission to stay here.

So Hinata stays. 

— 

**The BeeJays:**

[16:58 JST]

**ninja_shoyo** sent a picture

**ninja_shoyo:**

Buongiorno a tutti, my dear friends

**Atsumu🏐✨** sent a picture

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

bonjour to you too

**Bokutooo** sent a picture

**Bokutooo:**

♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

**Inu_shion:**

If this chat is turning into a compilation of you all sending pics of your loved ones first thing in the morning I’m gonna leave and then block all of you so you can’t add me back. 

What are you even doing you two, it’s fucking 5 in the afternoon in Japan

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

i took it this morning! anyway we’re stuck home, might as well sleep in all day

**Shugo Meian:**

Atsumu, don’t sleep all day. You need to exercise.

**Sakusa Kiyoomi:**

Don’t worry captain I’m not giving him food if he doesn’t do his work out.

Also

Miya, I’m going to murder you for that picture. 

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

call 110!!! 

CALL 119!!!! 

ASòAJISàèA9io

**Inu_shion:**

Rip Atsumu… 

Anyway! You need to stop rubbing it in our faces, some of us are home all on our own and feeling lonely here.

**AdriahT** sent a gif.

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] Fuck off.

I hate you all.

**Inu_shion** left the chat. 

**Shugo Meian** added **Inu_shion** to the chat.

**Inu_shion:**

RELEASE ME FROM THIS HELL ୧((#Φ益Φ#))୨

**Shugo Meian:**

No, I have to check that everyone of you practices at home. 

Everyone. 

**Oliver Barnes** sent a picture.

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] I trusted you Barnes… 

**Oliver Barnes:**

😀

[ _in english_ ] Oh the dog says hi too!

**Oliver Barnes** sent a picture.

**Inu_shion:**

[ _in english_ ] Okay this one I will allow because he looks very polite. 

**Oliver Barnes:**

😊

**Bokutooo:**

[ _in english_ ] OMG THATS THE CUTES DOG IVE EVER SEEN

[ _in english_ ] I NEED MORE.

[ _in english_ ] IM GONNA CALL YOU ON SKYPE WAIT.

**Atsumu🏐✨** **:**

[ _in english_ ] doggo!!! i love him. i wanna kiss his little nose

**Inu_shion:**

He liiiiveeeees

**Sakusa Kiyoomi:**

Only because I wouldn’t be able to see Barnes’ dog on Skype from jail.

**Inu_shion:**

That’s fair

**Bokutooo** sent a link [  https://join.skype.com/facetiming-barnes-dog ]

**Oliver Barnes:**

**🤗🐶**

**Author's Note:**

> As always, leave a kudo and drop a comment if you've enjoyed, you'll have my eternal love and gratitude in return 💕
> 
> You want to talk to me about Barnes' dog that definitely exists? You can find me on [tumblr (general)](https://dr-awkward221b.tumblr.com/), [tumblr (art)](https://m-art-i.tumblr.com/), [instagram](https://instagram.com/m_art_i_?igshid=1vqasl5db2m9k) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/m_art_i_?s=08)!


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